


What Remains In The End

by legends_saga



Category: Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka is a Grey Jedi because I say so, Clone Wars is great, Jedi Luke Skywalker, Luke meeting Ahsoka, What we deserve, kinda ambigious ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:21:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28436070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legends_saga/pseuds/legends_saga
Summary: She'd heard his name whispered in the streets before, and while his surname surely woke memories, she believed it to be a coincidence. Skywalker was no unusual slave surname, she'd supposed. But since she saw the first picture of him, she started to understand. All her questions about her former mentor's faith had been answered by merely looking at Luke's eyes.
Relationships: Luke Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 1
Kudos: 94





	1. A Call For A Teacher

_When gone I am, the last of the Jedi you will be._

  
Master Yoda's words still echoed in Luke's mind as he sat in his small chamber, meditating. Coruscant might be busy, but his mind was eerily calm, only listening to the whispers of the Force. He hadn't been able to grasp his former masters' presences within the Force, but their teachings followed him day after day.

  
While his twin-sister Leia, raised as a poltician, had taken it upon herself to build a running democratic system mirroring the Old Republic, Luke had yet to come clear about his aims. Were he stillthe boy he was back on his mission of rescuing the princess of Alderaan, his vision would be clear: Be a pilot in Rogue-Squadron - and honor all those pilots who'd left their life in a fight for peace. Ben's and Yoda's teaching - as well as knowing about his heritage, has opened a whole different set of opportunities; all along with countless responsibilities.

  
Someone needed to rebuilt a Jedi Order to protect the Republic like they had in the old days, before corruption and tradition had robbed them both of power and significance.

But how was he suposed to do this, if Yoda was actually right? 

_A group, a group, is always made of two,_   
_Some friends, some friends,_   
_will be right here with you._

While Ben was no longer there to give him advice, Luke had found comfort in touching his own memories with the Force, finding them both helpful and soothing. Aunt Beru used to sing for him when he was younger, pretending she was telling nightmares to go away. These few lines, though, made him wonder how likely it was to have none of the Jedi left? 

  
Could they really all be gone? Rumors about Order 66 and the Crimes of the Stormtroopers had spread far and wide, not at last to underline the Empire's incredible power. Jedi hunts had been started to find all remaining Jedi, until generation's like Luke's grew up to believe Jedi knights to be fictional characters rather than a real organization.

  
A purge hadn't seemed to unrealistic - until Luke had found himself face to face with countless stormtroopers. A talented Jedi, someone who knows how to hide... could've likely snuck past them, just like Ben had hidden from under their watchful eyes.

  
And Yoda, who had been living a hermit's life on Dagobah for years and years - he could've missed the signs of other individuals aiming to reach out.  
Approaching Leia on the matter after one of their rare training session led to the suggestion of doing research in old archives just to lessen his search cycle.  
Han's sarcastic commentary turned out to be more useful. 

  
"What's this Force of yours good for if you don't send out a message or something, tell everyone to assembly?"

***

Little did Luke Skywalker know that a young former Jedi _was_ hiding in the Mid-Rim areas, having observed the Old Republic failing as well as the Rebellion and it's ambition to rebuild said order.

  
Ahsoka Tano had long since taken a step back from her former profession, not at last because of what happened to her mentor. She had believed in the Jedi council, in the Jedi's mission and their teachings and yet - yet they'd turned their back on her in her darkest hour, blinded by sheer misconceptions. Anakin and Ben had remained two of few to believe in her - and fight for her rights. 

  
She'd sensed both their passings through the Force, sacrifices leaving a blazing trace remaining indescribeable. 

  
She carefully traced her Lekkus, studying the images in front of her. An observant would recognize a familiar face portrayed on the HoloPad, and the Togruta woman did, too.

  
Luke Skywalker, hero of the Rebellion, images only now surfacing on public media.

  
She'd heard his name whispered in the streets before, and while his surname surely woke memories, she believed it to be a coincidence. Skywalker was no unusual slave surname, she'd supposed. But since she saw the first picture of him, she started to understand. All her questions about her former mentor's faith had been answered by merely looking at Luke's eyes.

  
Anakin Skywalker had fallen to the dark wanting to save his child just like she knew he'd aimed to save his mother. Power had consumed him, but in the end, love had, too. 

  
Now his son was left to face an incredible faith. If Leia Organa - or recently married Organa-Solo - and Mon Mothma spoke truth, part of their plan was to rebuilt the lost order of the Jedi.

  
Luke would search for ages, Ahsoka supposed. He would find only few - mainly former Younglings that haven't been at the temple during the raid... or old Master's in their deathbed.

  
Plently of knowledge, however good it might be, would be lost forever. 

She was surprised to be touched by a gentle but blazing outreach. Anakin had done this after she left the Order, sometimes reaching out in the middle of the night to check on her. For some reason, she'd always simply assumed them being able to do this because of how close they'd grown during her time as his padawan. 

  
It frightened her to think about this talent being used to lure other Jedi, former friends of hers, right in the arms of the Emperor and his hands. She'd felt so many of them become one with the Force, the brutalitly of each act leaving her speechless.

  
What left her speechless now was the power behind the request. A sheer indescribable energy, but fueled by the light, instead of the dark. His words were a whisper, hesitant, polite, but spoken with more clearance than she'd ever sensed in anyone.

  
_One willing to learn is always searching for a teacher._

Ahsoka sighed, pulling the cape of her cloak deeper in her face.  
 _Nothing like his father._


	2. A lesson to be learned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke finally meets Ahsoka.

"I'm just saying..." Han sighed, shaking his head as he clasped brotherly on Luke's shoulder. "Be careful, kid."

  
"I will be." For a moment, the younger of the two intended to add a "I always have been", but his past history with Han alone prove the contrary. The last time he pretended to caused him to crash with his X-Wing and run into the arms of a cloned former Jedi Master with a passion for unborns strong in the Force.

  
As he climbed into his X-Wing, Luke couldn't help but think about his niece and nephew, sleeping soundly on a hidden planet to make sure they would not become goals of political terrorism. They were the reason he was doing this, more than Yoda's and Ben's words ever could've been. He owed them to make the world a save place to live in - to know about their strenghts and talents just as much as they'd know about their weaknesses - or the weaknesses that laid in their heritage. 

  
Oddly enough, while he hadn't felt his father's presence since after of Endor, it felt closer lately, more tangible than ever, despite the doubts he had uttered towards Leia in an attempt of asking her forgiveness.

It was strangely soothing, whatever remnant it was that he felt. A little steadiness in the chaos of the world. 

His outreach in the Force had been of little succes in lessening the chaos. While he heard his voice echo along countless places across the galaxy, only one had been open-minded enough to listen. 

_A teacher what for, Skywalker? Are you looking for a story-teller, a Jedi teacher - or someone who believes in the old ways?_

  
Their touch in the Force had felt strangely familiar. He almost felt like he should remember - like he could, if he just stretched out far enough, but thus far, he had yet to discover the secret.  
  
 _Whatever knowledge it is you can grant me._

Thinking about Skywalker's response still brought Ahsoka on the verge of laughing. Just like his father, he'd try to conceal his confusion with mere charme. And with this striking similarity, her decision over helping Luke started wavering. Taught by Kenobi and Yoda before their passing, there was little she could offer him, much less things he wanted to hear: That Anakin Skywalker himself had not been the primary reason the Old Jedi Order fell apart. She didn't want to lecture him. Upon all those years of hiding from the Empire while secretly trying to do what little she could to help groups of Rebels withstand, she decidedly deserved some peace.

 _Oh and how does that make us different from the Council? Sitting in our high spot and deciding who's worthy of our time?_ The memory of her younger self snarled at her, rolling her bright blue eyes, not yet covered by clouds of doubt and decades of war. 

  
"Because I am not a Jedi, and there is no council. Skywalker will find someone better equipped to tell him what he needs to know." she spoke to herself, seating herself crosslegged on the floor with a cup of freshly brewed tea in her hands. _Sure. Someone who will tell him about the old ways and the way we operated. How long you think it'll be until he'll succumb to the same mistakes?_

  
She tried to ignore the voice for a little while longer, but was hardly succesfull. Eventually, she reached out again, agreeing to Skywalkers wishes as long as it happened on her terms.

***

"When you suggested to meet somewhere private, I did not expect to find myself in your quarters." Luke admitted, taking the seat the Togruta woman had offered him. She looked young, not too much older than him, although her face spoke of horrors way beyond her age. 

  
"Nothing more private than the place people sleep in - the place they allow themselves to be most vulnerable in." She passed him, walking in the small communal area of her hideout. "Want some tea?"

  
"Herbal? Yes, please."

As he took his first sip minutes later, she quipped a smile at him. "Surprising to find you this trustful after everything you've survived."

"I sense no danger in you.", he spoke truthfully. "If I were to mistrust anyone I met, the galaxy would become a dark place."

"Neither did anyone ever mistrust the Emperor - and in the end, that's what made the world a dark place." Her words were spoken unironically, much like she just wanted to draw him out.

"He played a failing unit like a fiddle." Luke responded, quoting his twin-sister's saying.

"You cite a wise man, Skywalker." At that, Ahsoka's eyes widened. For all this time, her focus had been on Luke Skywalker and his public persona. She'd never given his sister much more than a tought of appreciation - until now. Until Luke stood her, hair damp with sweat, cheeks red with the heat of the tea, repeating a cynic thought coming from the least cynic person Ahsoka had ever met. Bail Organa. Father of Leia Organa, and Padmé Amidala's closest companion. Everything suddenly made sense.

"But he didn't raise you, did he? Bail Organa?" She added, countering the confusion in his face. 

"No. No. My sister grew up at Alderaan. I myself-"

"Grew up at Tatooine." Ahsoka concluded. "Seperated. Like toy soldiers. If one of you failed, the other one was still save."

Quite shocked by her outburst, Luke raised an eyebrow. "That's a cynic thought."

"But you agree?"

"Evidence speaks against me, I fear.", the younger Jedi admitted, smile melting from his face. He could still sense Ahsoka's presence, distanced but not unkind. She had no intention of hurting him, or stripping his innocence. For all he knew, she only tried to put puzzle pieces of a clouded history together. That's what he was here for, wasn't he?

For a moment, she simply looked at him, absentmindly stroking the shoulder-long Lekku's.

"You are impressively strong in the Force for someone this young."

"I was trained well." Leaning forward in his seat, he cleared his troath. "This is what I try to do. To pass my knowledge to others. But I fear I have too little."

"It was enough to defeat the Emperor. A task many young boys and girls lost their lives to achieve."

"Weren't it for Anakin Skywalker, I would've lost mine, too." He caught her stopping mid-gesture, a smile sneaking across her face that didn't fully reach her eyes.

"Mine, too." She laughed. "Although admittedly, I certainly could've halfed the amount of life-threatening situations without him in my life."

"In that, we are quite similar." Luke said with a smirk. "You knew him?"

Ahsoka nodded. "He was my Master. Before - well, before I left the Order."

"You left?"

"I was wrongly accused of murder by the Council. I was offered a return later on, once they realized their mistakes. But by then, I'd learnt more than in any lesson I've had before." She crossed her legs, tightening her thin-linen cloak. "Inherit mistrust was all that was left of a noble order. Despite being able to sense it, despite knowing and raising people for years... instead of seeking fault within themselves, everyone simply blamed it on the next in line."

"Because nobody saw the real evil.", Luke concluded, quite speechless. 

"Oh they saw. Their evil was with love. With emotion. With sentinence. The uncontrollable was evil." For the first time in a while, Ahsoka raised her glance to look at him. "All that happens if you forbid compassion... is force people to surpress it until they no longer can. Until helplessness is drowning rationality." She sighed. "Your father was a good man."  
Hesitantly, Luke reached forward, resting his hand on her knee as a gesture of comfort. "I know.", he said earnestly.

  
"This is all I wanted to say. All I wanted and will teach you. Compassion is not making a Jedi weak. Compassion is their biggest strength. Love and admiration can be the greatest companion if you learn to _feel_."


End file.
